Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a method of controlling the same, and a storage medium.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, an image forming apparatus that includes a USB (Universal Serial Bus) has been widely used. In a USB specification, it is possible to have a plurality of logical channels called endpoints. For example, different endpoints can be assigned to respective functions, such as printing and scanning, provided by the image forming apparatus, and the functions can be used from a host computer via the USB. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-198779 discloses a technique that easily implements, via the USB, simultaneous operations of a plurality of functions such as a printer, a scanner, facsimile communication and the like.
In addition, there is an image forming apparatus that has a Web server function or an IPP (Internet Printing Protocol) function. In such an apparatus, setting of the image forming apparatus can be performed by a Web browser via a network, and printing or scanning using IPP can be performed. Furthermore, a specification called IPP over USB that allows IPP originally intended for network usage to be used between a host computer and an image forming apparatus connected via a USB has been defined. Note that IPP over USB can transmit/receive HTTP data including a HTTP header via a USB and is a specification that can be applied not only to IPP but also to other functions operating on HTTP such as scanning or data exchange of a Web page.
When IPP over USB is added to an image forming apparatus already provided with a Web server and IPP, it was necessary to add a processing unit that interprets HTTP data input from a USB. This is because, typically, the Web server can only accept input from TCP/IP, and the originally included Web server cannot be used to interpret data input from the USB.